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Southwestern University: History Department: News

Sarah has taken a circuitous path back to Southwestern, where she is interning at the University library. She plans to pursue a degree in Library Science.

I took a very rambling path to where I am now, which is enrolled at UT’s School of Information getting my library science degree. Right after graduation, I was planning to get my PhD in history. I took a gap year to apply to grad school and rather fortuitously ended up interning and then working at the Austin Children’s Museum, which sparked an interest in museum education. I did end up going to the University of Chicago and got my Master’s. But I changed my mind about going on for a PhD. I worked at an art museum while I was in Chicago, and by that point I was sold on museums and libraries as a career path. So I moved back to Austin and ended up working at a local tech company as a tech writer, while I applied to library science programs. I’m now working on my library science degree and am interning at the Southwestern University library. Things really do come full circle sometimes. I hope to work in a museum or an academic library after I graduate.

I’m really glad I majored in history at Southwestern, and I can honestly say it’s had a very positive impact on my life and career post-Southwestern. I chose to major in history because it allowed me to pursue things I enjoyed - writing, research, exchanging ideas, considering multiple perspectives, and investigating a really wide range of issues. The study of history is nothing if not interdisciplinary, I’ve found. I’ve looked for these same things in the jobs I’ve had. Training as a historian has really helped me in my work in both museums and libraries, where research skills and the ability to think both critically and flexibly are really important. I think the best thing about my history degree is that it is very flexible - it’s helped me to work in a lot of different areas and pursue many different interests.